What are Homonyms?

Whatever style or genre you write in, from magazines to academic journals, you are bound to use homonyms and at some stage you are bound to get them confused. But for something we use many times a day, few of us are often aware of them. Here is a brief guide to what homonyms are and how to watch out for them in your writing.

What is a Homonym?

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary the word homonym comes from Greek meaning "same name" and applies to any pair or group of words that sound the same but mean different things. Most commonly these words are also spelled differently, such as:

• Sale: half-price sale and Sail: to sail a boat
• Pail: to collect water in and Pale: to have no colour
• Fair: to be just and Fare: a fee to be paid

Although sometimes the spelling remains the same, for instance ‘fair’ can mean to be just or it can also mean to be pale of skin.

Why Are Homonyms Important to Writing?

Quite simply, homonyms are crucial to your story. With just one word you can completely change the meaning of a sentence. For instance:

• “Tom wasn’t sure, but in the end it proved the right root to take.”
• “Tom wasn’t sure, but in the end it proved the right route to take.”

The first suggests that Tom didn’t poison himself, because he chose the right root vegetable to take for his supper. The second suggests Tom didn’t get lost because it was the right route home.

That’s an example where the wrong homonym can alter the meaning of what you’ve said, but mostly they just don’t make sense and will stand out as spelling mistakes, for instance:

• “She walked all night and didn’t get to him.”
• “She walked all knight and didn’t get to him.”

The first is correct but the second knight (a man in armour) doesn’t make any sense in that sentence.

What Are Commonly Misused Homonyms?

There are some very common homonyms that crop up regularly in all genres of writing. They are:

• There
• Their
• They’re

There means a location like ‘over there’. Their is a possessive, it belongs to them: ‘their baseball’. They're is a contraction of "they are", so "they’re coming".

• Its
• It’s

This is to do with apostrophes. Its is a possessive, the ball belongs to it: ‘its ball’ or ‘its birthday’. It’s is a contraction of ‘it is’, so ‘it’s a lovely day’.

• To
• Too

To is simply a preposition: ‘I am going to the shop’, ‘where would you like to go to?’ whereas too can imply agreement: ‘oh yes, me too!’, ‘would you like to come too?’ or suggest that something was excessive: ‘that was too much’.

• Of
• Off

Of is again a preposition: ‘I am thinking of you’, whereas off is an adjective or doing word: ‘please get off the bus’.

• Your
• You're

The first is possessive: it belongs to you. The Second is a contraction of "you are".

• Affect
• Effect

This is a particularly tricky one and on some occasions they can be interchangeable, but affect is usually active and causes a reaction or influences something to happen; to have an affect on something, so ‘that play really affected me’ or ‘your argument won’t affect me’. An effect is usually something observed, the result of what has happened such as a ‘special effect’, ‘after effect’ or ‘nobody knew it would have that effect’.

• Which
• Witch

Which is a question: ‘which one is it?’ whereas witch is a woman on a broomstick.

• Weather
• Whether

Weather refers to the climate: ‘isn’t the weather fine today’ whereas the latter asks ‘whether or not we should go out’.

• Loose
• Lose

The first is the opposite of tight, the second means you have lost something.

There are many more but these are some of the most common.

How Can I Avoid Using the Wrong Homonym?

The very best way to avoid mixing your homonyms is to use a thesaurus. If you are using MS Word, highlight the word and hit the shift key and F7 at the same time, this should display a list of similar words down the right-hand side of the screen which will quickly let you know if you’ve got it wrong. A paper thesaurus is just as good.

Try and become aware of the ones you consistently get wrong and double-check when they come up in your writing. Everyone tends to have a pet annoyance that they consistently get wrong so be aware of it and work on it.

Often just knowing that you are about to use a troublesome homonym will make you go and check, but we don’t always know we’re doing it so it’s always good to get your final work proofread. There is quite an extensive list of homonyms to help you.

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